Definition of "resolve"

resolve¹

/ɹɪˈzɒlv/

verb
third-person singular simple present resolves, present participle resolving, simple past and past participle resolved
1. (transitive) To find a solution to (a problem).
  Quotations
  Exeter. Shall I call in Thambaſſadors my Liege? / King. Not yet my Couſin, til we be reſolude / Of ſome ſerious matters touching vs and France.
  1599, [William Shakespeare], The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift, […] (First Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Tho[mas] Millington, and Iohn Busby, […], published 1600, [Act I, scene i]
2. (transitive) To reduce to simple or intelligible notions; to make clear or certain; to unravel; to explain.
  Quotations
  Resolve my doubt.
  c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]
3. (intransitive) To make a firm decision to do something. To become determined to reach a certain goal or take a certain action.
  Quotations
  At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]
  1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools‎, volume 2, Dublin: […] Dillon Chamberlaine, page 202
4. (transitive) To determine or decide in purpose; to make ready in mind; to fix; to settle.
  Quotations
  Gentlemen, importune me no farther, / For hovv I firmly am reſolu'd you knovv: / That is, not to beſtovv my yongeſt daughter, / Before I haue a husband for the elder: […]
  c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i], page 210, column 2, lines 50–51
5. To come to an agreement or make peace; patch up relationship, settle differences, bury the hatchet.
6. (transitive, intransitive, reflexive) To break down into constituent parts; to decompose; to disintegrate; to return to a simpler constitution or a primeval state.
  Quotations
  O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, / Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]
  And ye Immortal Souls, that once were Men, / And now reſolv’d to Elements agen.
  1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, Act II, scene i, page 15
  The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.
  2013 July-August, Fenella Saunders, “Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture”, in American Scientist
7. To cause to perceive or understand; to acquaint; to inform; to convince; to assure; to make certain.
  Quotations
  In health, good air, pleasure, riches, I am resolved it cannot be equalled by any region.
  1596, Walter Raleigh, The discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of the great and golden city of Manoa
  We must be resolved how the law can be pure and perspicuous, and yet throw a polluted skirt over these Eleusinian mysteries.
  1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], book 9
  Reſolve me Reaſon, vvhich of theſe is vvorſe, / VVant vvith a full, or vvith an empty purſe: […]
  1733, [Alexander] Pope, Of the Use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk […], George Ewing […], and William Smith […], page 16
  She was proceeding in this manner when the surgeon entered the room. The lieutenant immediately asked how his patient did. But he resolved him only by saying, "Better, I believe, than he would have been by this time, if I had not been called; and even as it is, perhaps it would have been lucky if I could have been called sooner."
  1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […]
8. (music) To cause a chord to go from dissonance to consonance.
9. (optics) To render visible or distinguishable the parts of something.
10. (computing) To find the IP address of a hostname, or the entity referred to by a symbol in source code; to look up.
11. (rare, transitive) To melt; to dissolve; to liquefy or soften (a solid).
  Quotations
  With milke-white Hartes vpon an Iuorie ſled, / Thou ſhalt be drawen amidſt the froſen Pooles, / And ſcale the yſie mountaines lofty tops: / Which with thy beautie will be soone reſolu’d.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
12. (rare, intransitive, reflexive) To melt; to dissolve; to become liquid.
  Quotations
  When the blood stagnates in any part, it first coagulates, then resolves, and turns alkaline.
  1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 1st Irish edition, Dublin: […] S. Powell, for George Risk, […], George Ewing, […], and William Smith, […]
13. (obsolete, transitive) To liquefy (a gas or vapour).
14. (medicine, dated) To disperse or scatter; to discuss, as an inflammation or a tumour.
15. (obsolete) To relax; to lay at ease.
  Quotations
  resolve himself into all sports and looseness again
  1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter‎
16. (chemistry) To separate racemic compounds into their enantiomers.
17. (mathematics, archaic, transitive) To solve (an equation, etc.).
noun
countable and uncountable, plural resolves
1. (uncountable) Determination; will power.
  Quotations
  Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don’t want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It’s all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely resolve and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear.
  2019 May 12, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎
2. (countable) A determination to do something; a fixed decision.
  Quotations
  His resolve to die is weakening as he grows accustomed to Sophie's absence, and all his attempts to master irresolution only augment it.
  1995, William Arctander O'Brien, Novalis, Signs of Revolution, page 56
3. (countable) An act of resolving something; resolution.
  Quotations
  Some operations require data that, in turn, requires that lightweight components be resolved. In these cases, this option determines whether the user is prompted to approve the resolve or whether components are just resolved automatically.
  2008, Matt Lombard, SolidWorks 2007 Bible, page 956

resolve²

verb
third-person singular simple present resolves, present participle resolving, simple past and past participle resolved
1. Alternative spelling of re-solve

Definition of "resolve"

resolve1

verb

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resolve2

verb

resolve¹

resolve²